Chakvetadze marches on in LA

By Matthew Cronin

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Russia's Anna Chakvetadze eased into the third round of the Los Angeles Classic with a 6-1 6-1 thrashing of Marta Domachowska on Tuesday as Serena Williams became the latest injury casualty of the tournament.

The third seed eased past her Polish opponent with the minimum of fuss, never giving Domachowska an opportunity to settle with an assured and energetic display.

"I played very well," the world number eight told reporters.

"I concentrated all match and overall, it was excellent."

While Chakvetadze was enjoying an easy workout, Williams succumbed to the knee injury that forced her out of the semi-finals at Stanford last week and withdrew from the tournament a day before she was due to open her campaign.

The second seed joined her sister and Wimbledon champion Venus, world number four Svetlana Kuznetsova and former world number one Lindsay Davenport on the sidelines, depriving the event of four major drawcards.

All four players are suffering from knee injuries.

Returning from injury but also finding herself on the sidelines was sixth seeded Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia, who was beaten 6-2 6-4 by Olga Govortsova of Belarus in the day's other second round match.

Hantuchova is recovering from a long-term foot problem and her poor display left her with little doubt over the hard work that lies ahead for her to regain full fitness.

"I guess it's going to be a long way back, Hantuchova said.

"I'm struggling to find my rhythm and it was a bad performance."

PETROVA DELIGHT

One player who has shown glimpses of returning to her best form is Russian Nadia Petrova and the ninth seed eased into the second round with a 6-0 6-4 victory over compatriot Alina Jidkova.

Petrova is looking more like the player who was ranked a career-high world number three in May 2006 and after reaching the final at Eastbourne in June and the Wimbledon quarter-finals, she appears to be heading back towards the top 10.

"I feel like I'm back on track and I have my motivation again," the world number 17 said. "I'm very happy being here competing. I want to bring my fitness to where it's never been.